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Father’s Day Tie

As you may remember we posted a Little Boy’s Tie around Easter and it got a great response. Many of you were interested in making a larger version and what better occasion to do so than Father’s Day which is on June 21st this year!

When I was growing up my dad wore a tie almost every day. But not the kind of ties you might expect. As an example; he had one, handmade by my mom, with flying eyeballs embroidered all over it. So when we decided to do a man’s tie for Father’s Day I knew I had to make it special, and not boring for my dad.

Liberty of London Tana Lawn seemed like the perfect fabric for the job. In addition to all of its amazing prints the Tana Lawn has a silk like feel that is perfect for a tie. But when I went to pick out the prints to use I couldn’t decide which ones seemed manly but not dull so I enlisted my dad’s help. He helped to pick out the three prints.

I think the end product is a perfect Father’s Day present. It’s so easy and fun to make that you might find yourself making one for all the men in your life, and then maybe making one for yourself. This is also a great present for recent grads who might need a tie for job hunting. And it could certainly come in handy if you’re planning a wedding as well.

Perhaps, now that I’ve mastered the basic shape, I will embroider some flying eyeballs on them but that might be a bit much? Happy Father’s Day!– Molly

The Materials

To make one 55 1/2-inch long by 3-inch wide (at it’s widest point) tie. (You could actually make two if you cut carefully. If you’re planning on making more than two there is no need to get more interfacing- the amount of interfacing should suffice for at least four ties.):

One Father’s Day Tie pattern, available free here, printed out and assembled. (This is a corrected version of this pattern. If you downloaded the pattern before April 6th, 2011 you have an older version, so please download it again.)

Cutting

Please note that this tie is slightly shorter than a standard 57-inch long tie. To make it longer you can add the desired additional length between the M1 and M2 neck pieces, and the Interfacing pieces #14 and #15 before you tape the pattern together.

Cut out the Front, Back and Middle Pieces on the bias. Below is an easy, fool proof method of cutting on the bias (but please keep in mind that your pattern shape will be slightly different than the one in the pictures below.)

Take one of these squares and fold it in half diagonally as shown above and press it. This diagonal line is the bias fold.

Pin the pattern piece down to the fabric matching the side of the pattern that says “fold” to the fold of the fabric. Cut out your piece.

After you have cut out your front, middle and back pieces unfold them. The front and middle pieces will have two points, like an M shape on one end, while the middle piece will have this M shape at both ends.

You will need to cut these points in a specific way. Start with the front piece. Place it right side facing up. You will be cutting off the right hand point. Place a ruler along the inside edge of the left hand point and across the right side of the piece, extending the angle of the left point, as shown above.

Cut off the right hand point along this angle. You will have a roughly 45-degree angled edge that points to the left.

In this same manner cut the other two pieces with the following orientations. (It is very important that the points face in the correct direction.):

For the middle piece cut the first end with the point facing to the left. Then rotate the piece 180-degrees and cut the other end so the point is pointing to the right. You will end up with a trapezoid shape as pictured above on the far left.

For the end piece cut the M shaped end so the point is pointing to the right as pictured above on the far right.

Then cut out the Tie Interfacing piece from the heavy sew in interfacing and the front and back lining pieces from the muslin. All together here are the piece you will have:

1- Tana Lawn Tie Front

1- Tana Lawn Tie Middle

1- Tana Lawn Tie End

1- Tie Interfacing Piece

1- Front Tie Lining

1- Back Tie Lining

Sewing the Front, Middle and Back

Iron the middle crease out of the front back and middle pieces. Place them wrong side up and close together, but not overlapping, on the ironing board. Lay the light weight fusible interfacing right side up (fusible side down) on top of the pieces. Set your iron to the synthetic setting and iron the interfacing to the fabric. You will probably iron the interfacing on to your ironing board too at this point but it’s easy to peel it off and you can use a press cloth if you’re worried about damaging your ironing board cover.

Cut the interfacing around the front, middle, and back pieces. The pieces will now be much stiffer.

Using a water soluble pen or a regular pencil draw a line 1/4-inch in from each of the angled edges of all three pieces. Mark it on both the front of the piece and the back. Orient your pieces as shown above: the front piece at the bottom, the middle piece with its points facing to the right and the back piece at the top with its point facing down and to the left.

With the right sides together match up the marked lines ad pin the pieces together as shown above. This marked line will be your sew line.

Sew across both marked lines and then press the tie flat. You can trim the edges a bit if it didn’t line up perfectly.

Adding the Front and Back Lining

Iron the tie and both lining pieces in half lengthwise to get a crease. This will help to line everything up properly.

From the Front Tie Lining, fold the bottom tip up 1/4-inch and press it.

Fold the bottom sides of the lining in 1/4-inch each and press them into place. This will form a neat point at the bottom angle of the lining.

Repeat this step for the Back Lining.

Fold the bottom edges of the Front tie in 1/4 and press them into place.

Fold the tip up 1/4-inch press it, and then fold in the sides to a neat point and press it again, as you did above with the lining pieces.

Repeat this step for the back of the tie.

Place the Front Lining on top of the Front Tie end, wrong sides together. Make sure that the lining is contained within the borders of the end of the tie as shown above. It should be a little bit smaller than the tie end.

Pin the Lining in place

Sew the folded edges of the lining onto the tie end with a slip stitch. Sew only through the folded layer of the Tana Lawn and interfacing- Do not sew though to the front of the tie. This is very similar to sewing on the binding of a quilt.

Please click here if you need a more in depth explanation of slip stitch.

It’s not necessary to sew the top of the lining, it will get enclosed within in the shaping of the tie.

Repeat the same steps to sew on the Back Lining.

Shaping the Tie

Fold in edges of the long sides 1/4-inch and press into place.

Fold again 1/4-inch and press.

Fold both edges in so they meet at the crease in the center of the tie and press.

Open up the sides and slip your interfacing in as pictured above. It should fit snugly inside the tie. You may have to trim it slightly to get it to fit.

Now it’s time to close up the tie. Refold the edges, press them again and pin into place.

Sew Tie

The inside seam of your tie will be sewn by hand.

Please Note: I used red thread for the following steps, but only so the technique would be more visible. At home you should use thread that matches your fabric.

Tack the point where the two edges meet a few times before you start your seam.

The tie is sewn up with a different type of slip stitch than was used for sewing the lining:

Start from the tack run your needle through the fold on the left side and come out about 1/2-inch above.

Insert your needle directly across from where you came out into the right side and slide it up though the fold for a 1/2-inch.

Then enter the left side directly across from where you exited the right side.

Repeat

Once you do this a few times you will have a little ladder of stitches as shown above.

Pull the stitches taut and they will almost disappear.

When you get to the end of your length of thread take a couple of tacking stitches but this time sew though the interfacing as well, while making sure not to sew though to the front of the tie, which will hold the interfacing in place.

Sew the entire inside seam of the tie in this way.

Once you’re done, press the tie thoroughly to get rid of the middle seam and you’ll be finished! Enjoy! –Molly

Update on June 19, 2009

Please note: We have revised the tie pattern template a bit. The new pattern is available for download, for free, here as well as in the “Materials” section above. If you downloaded the pattern before April 6, 2011 should re-download the new version. Thanks so much for all your comments- they’ve really helped us improve the pattern!– Molly

Hi, I am excited to sew a tie for my little boy using this pattern. Is is absolutely essential to cut the fabric on the bias? My fabric is a plaid on the diagonal and if I cut it on the bias the plaid will be straight? Thank you for your help!

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with printable designs like what you're talking about.

It is easy enough to blow up a PDF to make it wider, just print it larger than 100%. But unfortunately that will also make the pieces longer as well. You could also print out the pattern as is and then add 1/2 inch to either side before you cut out the fabric.

I got my design to work, but it was a complicated process. First, I designed the image I wanted on my tie (a collage of Ray Harryhausen movie posters, plus a couple of pictures of Harryhausen himself). I've done a few other similar ties in past years, to wear at Seattle International Film Festival events. To get the image onto a tie, I previously uploaded them to Zazzle, and they printed them and manufactured the tie.

This time, I made the tie myself. My printer, an Epson C88+, can print images up to 8.544 inches, and the ink is water-resistant (maybe waterproof, but I don't plan on testing whether it survives a wash). I drew an outline of a finished tie based on your design, combining the front, middle, and back pieces. Because I wanted my tie to be four inches wide at the widest point, I made the outline 8.5 inches wide: four inches for the front side, four inches for the parts folded behind the back, and two quarter-inch hems. I tapered it with a profile similar that would assemble the same way, but it's not the same outline.

Next, I pasted my Harryhausen design into the outline image, and cropped two copies of that image to 33 inches (the fat and skinny ends of the tie, with a generous allowance to overlap). I taped four sheets of 8.511 paper together, and printed the fat end on one side and the skinny end on the other side.

Once I had the image of the tie on paper, I taped plain white polyester (backed with light interfacing, and cut to just larger than the outline of the fat end) to the paper. I ran the whole works through the printer again, removed it from the paper, and repeated for the skinny end. After removing them, I trimmed them down to the exact outline (which was right on the polyester), and proceeded with assembly of the fat end, the skinny end, the tip linings, the slip-in interfacing stiffener, and the loop on the back with my name.

At least that was the plan. As it turned out, I messed up the printing on the fat end a few times. (One, water drops from pressing the polyester made the printer ink run before it dried to its water-resistant finish. Two, I ran it through the printer backwards, printing the interfacing, which blurred. Three, I ran it through the printer up-side-down, so that the wide part ran outside the bounds of the fabric. The first was a mistake of inexperience; the second and third mistakes of rushing against a tight deadline.) Those mistakes exhausted my supply of white polyester, and I didn't have time to run to the fabric store for more, so I ended up printing it on white cotton, which worked fine, though the texture wasn't as nice as the polyester on the skinny end.

Hi! I am new to sewing, espicially on sewing machines. Is the final stage of sewing up the back of the tie the only part that is hand sewn, the rest is on a sewing machine? Is there any kind of settings i need to know as far as like the size of the stitches or anything on the sewing machines? Thanks! -Janice

Hi! Thanks for the awesome pattern, I just made my first tie and I love it. Now I'll have to get myself invited to more formal/ smart-casual events so I can make my boyfriend wear all my handmade ties

Some people noticed that the patterns didn't line up exactly, I had that problem, so what I did was before I cut out any pattern pieces, I redrafted the outside lines based on the end points. So rather than follow what LOOKS like a straight line, but was slightly curved, I just joined up the widest end points on each section and joined them with a pencil line. Before I cut my actual fabric, I checked that the pattern pieces lined up when placed together as if they'd been sewn. Anything that didn't quite match I trimmed up a bit, and ended up with the perfect pattern.

Regarding lightweight interfacing, I used quilting cotton, so the lightweight interfacing was plenty good enough for my tie. I constructed the tie slightly differently from the instructions here, but it still looks pretty cool, and feels sturdy but not too heavy.

Hope that helps some fellow tie makers. Thanks again for a great pattern.

Thanks for the great pattern! I made a muslin last night and it looks great. However, I have a question about the heavyweight interfacing. Your link goes to SF101, which is a fusible. Do you have a sew-in heavyweight interfacing that you recommend?

Hello! I am a little confused with the slip stitch to attach the front and back tie lining. Am I supposed to take just a few threads of the white lining fabric and sew it into the fold of the tana lawn fabric or is it to take a few threads of the tana lawn and sew it into the fold of the lining fabric? Any help would be greatly appreciated! And thanks for the great pattern!

I'm not sure I understand your question: There are 2 kinds of interfacing in this project. The thinner one is ironed onto the fabric and then just treated as part of the fabric. The thicker one is a thin strip that just lays in the middle of the tie to stabilize it and make the whole thing a bit thicker.

I was just starting to make this, but I'm having a hard time following along with the pictures and the print-outs. Where does F4 (The front end piece) come in? It looks like you haven't cut it on the bias with the other pieces in the picture, and it seems to be left out of the rest of the picture tutorial entirely. Am I missing something?

You tape all of the tie front pieces together before you cut the fabric. So F4 is taped (at the dashed line) to F3 before you cut the entire Tie Front. The third picture under the Cutting headline shows how you cut the bias angle at the top.

These photos are cobbled together from two projects, the Little Boy's Tie (blue fabric) and the Father's Day Tie (ecru floral fabric.) The top of the Tie Front piece on the Little Boy's Tie is a bit different so maybe that is where your confusion is coming from?

I know that you post this for free so you may not have the time to answer specific details but I thought I would ask anyways…

I made 7 or so of these for my wedding in June 2011 (which means I downloaded the old version of the tie). The finished ties then for 1.5 inches and not 3 inches. I was wondering what is different or how I change the pattern to get the skinny tie again?

Hello, I don't understand why 1.25 yards of the the heavy interfacing is necessary. I might be misunderstanding something, but it seems to be so much more than needed. I haven't read through the comments, so perhaps you've already answered this question.

I am half-way through the project (I think!), and I'm really looking forward to the end. This is a lovely and professional tutorial for a man's tie, compared to many I've researched. Thank you for providing it for free, as well!

My advice would be to print out and tape together all of the pieces and from there draft new longer, wider pieces. Just add extra to every piece. You will need it to be 8 1/2 inches longer in total so maybe add 3 inches to each of the end pieces and 2 1/2-inches to the neck piece. And cut every piece 1-inch wider.

I just finished making a tie for my husband with this pattern, and it turned out great! I used the navy Liberty strawberry thief print and he loves it. The first time I cut the piece for the front of the tie, I cut it with the birds upside down–I didn’t think to check whether the print was going the right way. Luckily I had more than enough with 3/4 yard to cut another one, but just a hint for those who might be using a directional print. Thanks for another great project!

This looks like the best tutorial I have seen and have been doing some hunting. I wanted to do a hand rolled, self tipped tie though… would all of the rest of the assembly remain the same but just hand roll instead of sewing on the triangular front and back lining?

If you see in the second cutting photo the Front piece is kind of centered in the fabric. Instead of doing that you will need to push it all the way to the edge and then you’ll probably be able to get a Middle piece cut on that same fold. For each subsequent piece just make sure to cut as many as you can along each fold and cut them very close to one another. You can also mark all of the pieces with some chalk before you cut them out to make sure you maximize the space!

I am making a tie for a groom in a couple of weeks who is quite tall and wants a double Windsor knot, will this pattern be the right length for double windsor? Or should I add more length on top of the extra because of his height?

I think you should measure a tie that you know works for the groom in a double windsor. This tie is 57 inches and if that’s too short you can follow the instructions in the cutting section to make it longer. I think it’s always better to go a little longer rather than end up with a short tie!

Thanks so much for getting in touch about this and good luck with the project!

I want to make this for my teenage son but it looks like you are out of the lining and one of the interfacings. Do you have a substitute on your site? I was wondering if you could also give me some other fabric suggestions?

I was looking for something quick to make for my husband for his birthday, as a full size quilt will take too long. I think that making him a tie out of a fabric that is different will be just what I was looking for.

The finished size of this tie is 55 1/2 inches long (the interfacing piece is a little shorter than the tie as a whole.) So you should add 1 1/2-inches between pieces M1 and M2. You can also add 1 1/2-inches to the interfacing piece.

I hope this makes sense. If you need any more help please let us know!

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